Design Challenge: HIGHWAY PATROL VEHICLE 2025

http://www.laautoshow.com/DesignChallenge

missed it by that much scro… … > LA Design Challenge, Highway Patrol

+1 lew for the maxwell smart reference. Would you believe…

R

WITHOUT USING GOOGLE … who was Maxwell Smart?

And what did he drive?

Well, I know he called his boss on his shoe! Can’t remember what he drove though.

You got me. Dunno the car. Ill have to go into the cone of silence to figure that one out. But I do know the saints Volvo p1800. That get me anything?

R

Forgot about the P1800.

Loved the graphics.

Sunbeam right?

Maxwell Smart - Get Smart. A sitcom about a secret agent. I used to watch it on cable when I was around 10-12 years old.

Lew: Kids today must be confused if they watch that show. The telephone booth sticks out so much. They might as well put a neon sign out that says “secret HQ here”.

Sunbeam right?

Mostly. Sunbeam TIGER; 260 cu.in. Ford V-8. It would have been a Mustang beater if Chrysler had had a small displacement v-8 in it’s inventory. Sunbeam Alpine 260 in Europe

I met my to-be wife about three months after her mother sold theirs… … … :neutral_face:

Lew: We need a thread on small British sportscars hehe:)

Saw one of these in a Ralph Lauren commercial yesterday alongside some German sports coupe. How many kids know what this is?

Some sort of Austin Healy?

R

I have fond memories of the many years of taking country road rides with my Dad in his - it’s a Triumph TR3. Dad’s was a 58.

I won’t say how it left our family, you don’t need to cringe like that today.

While looking for a photo, I found one for sale that was rolled:( Very sad sight.

I still remember being only 9 or 10 and whenever Dad would stop for a red-light, I could lean over and touch the ground from the back edge of the window!

He loved that car, her name was Henrietta. I don’t want anyone to think an accident was involved; here’s what happened. I was 18 or 19, in college and still living at home when my Mom decided to have a garage sale. Dad was on his way out of town for a biz trip and she half joked as he left, “I’ll sell that useless yellow thing if you aren’t here to object.” I remember laughing because that was not plausible, impossible, inhumane and certainly not serious…right? I came home from classes that day and Henrietta was GONE.

My Dad bought it in 1968 for $400 - from a little old lady whose husband passed away. Dad had gone to her house looking for tools at a garage sale, saw the car and talked her into selling it to him. The car was perfect and hadn’t spent a single night in the elements all the years he had her. She only had a new battery and new tires, other than that she was completely original and only had about 30K miles. She’d been appraised for insurance a few years before this for $11,500 - all original paint, no accidents, all original leather in great shape, perfect chrome, perfect engine, etc. My Mom sold her to some guy for $2500 - signed my Dad’s name on the title. My parents didn’t talk much for a few months after that and one Saturday a year or so later I was outside playing basketball when I heard that familiar sound - the guy who’d bought it came around the corner and parked in front of our house - he wanted to show my Dad the cool things he’d done - a stereo in the dash (he cut a hole in that dash), a driver’s side leather covered roll bar (he tore up the original carpet and had bars welded to the floorpan - unsupported) and touring lights (he drilled holes in that gorgeous chrome bumper). I politely told him he should leave - and he did. Never saw Henrietta again.

not long after that, my Dad bought his first Corvette (he’s had 3 since) and I remember my Mom saying something to the affect of ‘don’t dare do it’ as he and I drove over to see it - he bought it on the spot and looked somewhat happy as he drove into our driveway.

My parents didn’t talk much for a few months after that

That is what 55-gal barrels and concrete are for… … … :sunglasses:

TR-3… . spoooge. … . four cylinders with three main bearings, agricultural. It’s all you can do to get both of your feet in to foot-well; toe-heeling goes without saying. Impossible to enter without first sitting down on the seat, with you feet on the pavement, and then rotating on your butt while pulling your feet into the vehicle. Made great engine noises!

But it’s hard to say, from this angle, if this is a TR-3, or a TR-3A. It could be a TR-2. The grille on the 3A was full width of the front fascia.

TR-2; 90 bhp

TR-3: 95 bhp - first car fitted with front disc brakes; grille insert moved to the front

TR-3A; 100 whopping bhp!

And it was all down hill from there, imo.

TR-4

Can we officially retire this thread “little Brit car love” now?

R

Yes, Dad’s was a 58 TR3A (full width grille, all upgrades) and while it wasn’t the highest tech of cars - that’s what the reliable British cars WERE, simple. Probably why Lotus uses Toyota engines now, they’ve gone full circle.

I’m finished walking down memory lane, retire at will. :wink:

Well, an unmaried friend of my dad had a TR4 and an Alfa Spider 2000. He constantly
tried to “spoil” my dad. Instead he spoiled me with only one drive in the backseat of
the Spider when I was 14.

Years later I met his son in design school. He was one of the first who were hooked
onto “interface design” and drove an old, neglected Citroen. I guess it is not in the genes…


mo-i

P.S.: I’d rather like to know how a marriage can be saved after an event like that…

Lew: “ALL DOWN HILL FROM THERE”?!?!?! WHAT?!?!?! ARE YOU CRAZY!?!?!

TR6 is the greatest sportscar design of all time. Manly, yet lithe.

Except for those Lucas Electronics (and calling them electronics is being generous). :slight_smile: